Mr Jonathan Gelber

<< Back to 2011 American Scholars

Fulbright Postgraduate Scholar

Media profile

“Cholera infects millions of people each year so learning more about this bacterium is critical to improving public health.”

Mr Jonathan Gelber, an Emergency Medical Technician with the Aspen Valley Hospital, has won a Fulbright Postgraduate Scholarship to spend a year at the University of New South Wales and the Sydney Institute of Marine Sciences to research the bacterium Vibrio cholerae (Vc), which causes the deadly illness, cholera.

In particular, Jonathan will research biofilms of Vc. Biofilms are aggregate formations of numerous bacteria, and recently the occurrence of cholera epidemics has been linked to the presence of Vc biofilms.

“Biofilms are important with regards to medicine and public health, as they constitute a refuge for numerous pathogenic bacteria. Biofilms allow bacteria to survive both environmental predation and human immune defense,” Jonathan said.

“Vc can exist as either a pathogenic free-living bacteria, or an even more virulent colony-like biofilm,” Jonathan said. “Though biofilms are abundant in marine habitats, relatively little work has been done to investigate their lifecycles and mechanisms of defense.”

The laboratories at UNSW and SIMS are among the world’s leading centres for biofilm research and Jonathan will work with Dr. Diane McDougald of UNSW and SIMS. SIMS
is one of the few institutions worldwide that has a PC2 aquarium, which Jonathan will use to study the factors that drive the Vc biofilm’s virulence and its resistance to immune systems. Results from his project may be used to predict and even prevent future cholera outbreaks.

Jonathan has a BA in Biology, Summa Cum Laude, from Pomona College in Southern California. He has been awarded various awards and prizes including a Phi Beta Kappa Award, a Sigma Xi Science Research Society award, and the Michael Rosen Outstanding Pre-medical Student Award. In addition to his academic work, Jonathan is a keen musician and has performed drums, guitar, and saxophone in a range of bands. He also volunteers at hospitals and plans to play music and assist in hospitals while in Sydney.